Boosting the national startup ecosystem

The Vietnam Startup 4.0 Forum 2022 took place on October 19.

Dr. Dinh Viet Hoa, president of the National Association of Entrepreneurship shared at the forum, "A strong country is a country that produces many strong enterprises. Enterprises must identify innovation as the driving force and the ultimate solution to improve competitiveness as international economic integration is increasingly deep and comprehensive."

The National Association of Entrepreneurship and the National Innovation Centre participated in the signing ceremony of a strategic cooperation agreement to develop the national startup ecosystem.

Dr. Vu Tien Loc, chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Centre (VIAC) emphasised, “The key to national development at the present lies in the two most important phrases: improving the quality of human capital and innovative startups. These are the wings of the economy.”

According to Loc, innovation is a vital factor for businesses. The government's policy is to accelerate the transformation of the growth model based on the application of science, technology, and innovation to improve the productivity, quality, and competitiveness of the economy.

Vu Quoc Huy, director of the National Innovation Centre, said that Vietnam's innovation startup ecosystem is growing day by day.

“Vietnam is rated by international organisations as one of the top three most dynamic startup ecosystems in Southeast Asia. The Global Innovation Index 2022 recognises Vietnam as one of the countries that have made great progress in the past decade," said Huy.

Huy added that in 2021, the total investment capital in Vietnamese startups will reach a record of $1.4 billion, an increase of nearly four times compared to 2020 and six times higher than the record figure in 2019 ($874 million). Vietnam also appeared two more tech unicorns, Sky Mavis and Momo.

Sharing the experience of the startup nation, Maayan Ben Tura, Deputy Ambassador of Israel to Vietnam, informed that Israel has many startup businesses that have been valued at up to a billion US dollar. Israel also has many hubs and incubators in different parts of the country to best support startups.

“From the very beginning when starting a business, businesses have defined the idea of ​​going out into the world. In Israeli culture, failure is something of great value and experience,” said Tura.

In fact, many countries around the world such as Israel, Japan, China, and South Korea have developed a prosperous country by promoting startup and innovation activities. Despite its small area with 9.4 million people, in 2021, Israel ranks third in the world in terms of number of tech unicorns (17), while the United States is 45 and China is 25.

Dinh Viet Hoa, president of the National Association of Entrepreneurship, said that the experience of entrepreneurship and innovation from Israel, South Korea, Japan, and China can draw lessons and good suggestions for Vietnam in its journey of national startup ecosystem promotion programme.

At the event, the National Association of Entrepreneurship and the National Innovation Centre also signed a strategic cooperation agreement to develop the national startup ecosystem.

Defining innovative startup enterprises in Vietnam The state has provided special policies to encourage small- and medium-sized startup enterprises (SMEs) that primarily focus on tech advancement and research, and need the assistance of all resources for building their reputation and market status.

Edtech startup VUIHOC bags $2 million in bridge funding ahead of Series A VUIHOC has raised $2 million in a bridge round led by Ant Group-backed venture capital firm BAce Capital that was joined by other investors including Vulpes Venture, DT&Investment & Colopl Next, and Nextrans.

Vietnam's innovation start-up ecosystem investment forecasted to hit $2 billion Vietnam's innovation start-up ecosystem is forecast to see an investment of US$2 billion, maintaining the form of a "rising star" of start-ups in South Asian countries.

Startup ecosystem requires helping hand Big passion for establishing businesses with novel ideas from many Vietnamese people is creating a vivid startup ecosystem for the country. However, the community is longing for more favourable conditions for it to grow further.